Imhotep's Return
by evienefertiri
Summary: After The Mummy, Imhotep tries to call Evelyn back to Hamunaptra to read the Book of the Dead and bring him back to life... again.


It had been three weeks since Jonathan, O'Connell, and Evie had left Hamunaptra. They had found the treasure hidden on the back of one of the camels and divided it evenly after quite some arguing from Jonathan. Jonathan had decided to do what he always did with his money; gamble, though he had taken Evie's advice and put away some of the treasure in the safe in their parents house. O'Connell had taken his share and used the money to pay of an accumulated pile of debts. Evie had kept some of the artifacts in the safe as Jonathan had, but the rest she donated to the museum like her father had always done. Among the artifacts that went to the museum were the key that had opened Imhotep's sarcofacus and both of the books, and a few statues, but she didn't dare tell anyone where they came from, or else someone may try to find Hamunaptra again.   
  
Jonathan and O'Connell had agreed to help Evie straighten up the mess she had made in the library before they left. Jonathan and O'Connell were mainly helping with standing the shelves upright and getting the books out of the way, while Evie was re-organizing them and recording any damage. Jonathan walked over to the table where Evie had her books stacked and handed her another arm load, "Here you go Evie," he said,  
  
"Thank you." Evie replied. She started going through the books to put them in order, when O'Connell came by and stacked another armload on top of the pile she was looking through, and Jonathan came behind him with another load and stacked it right on top, "Jonathan, O'Connell, there are plenty of other tables in here, why do all the books have to go right where I'm working?" she asked, sounding slightly annoyed,  
  
"We're trying to help," Jonathan said,  
  
"Well stop it." Evie said. She grabbed some of the books and moved them to one of the other tables, "the new curator is coming in tomorrow, and I can't have him see the library in this shape." she said. O'Connell and Jonathan helped her move the books to the other table,  
  
"You know what's been bugging me ever since we left that city," Jonathan replied, "What does 'death is only the beggining' mean?"  
  
"Its part of the curse." Evie answered,  
  
"Hm, well, that makes sense." Jonathan replied, "I'm going out to get a sandwhich or something, anyone else want something to eat?"  
  
"Yeah, bring be back whatever it is you're getting," O'Connell said  
  
"Right," Jonathan said as he walked out of the library,  
  
"Jonathan don't you dare bring food back in here!" Evie called. Jonathan ignored her and left the museum, Evie rolled her eyes and went back to the stacks of books. O'Connell brought over one last load and stacked it on one of the other tables,  
  
"That's the last of them." he said. Evie looked around the library, all of the book shelves were back in place, all they needed to do was re-stack the books,  
  
"Thank you," Evie replied she piled up a stack of 'S' books in the corner where the rest of the books were neatly alphabetized,  
  
"You need any help with this stuff?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"No, I'd better do it." Evie said, "But thank you for the offer though." While Jonathan was off getting food to bring back Evie finished going through the piles of books that needed to be alphabetized and set them off in the corner with the rest of them. O'Connell sat at one of the tables talking to Evie while she ran around the library putting things back together. Evie brought in the ladder from the closet in the storage room and started re-stacking the books on the shelves. She brought one pile up the ladder with her and put the books neatly on the shelf, then had to climb down and get the next stack, which was getting very tedious by the time she had finished with the first three shelves of the 'A' section, "O'Connell," Evie called, "Would you mind doing me a favor?" she asked. O'Connell got up from his chair and went over to the shelf where Evie was stacking books, "Could you hand me the books so I can put them on the shelf, please," Evie asked.  
  
"Sure," O'Connell said. He grabbed the next pile of books and handed them to Evie,  
  
"Thank you." she said, "I don't know why the curator insisted the bookcasess be put in a circle like this, if he had set them up any other way the whole library couldn't have come crashing down and I wouldn't have to be asking you and Jonathan to come in and help me when I know you both could probably find something better to do."  
  
"You think I have something better to do?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"Well Jonathan could find something better to do, he'd run off to go gamble." Evie said. O'Connell looked at his watch,  
  
"He's been gone twenty minutes..." O'Connell whined,  
  
"What, are you hungry or something?" Evie asked,  
  
"Yes." O'Connell replied.  
  
"Well, come on, I'll show you the staff room, I think there's some food in there." Evie said,  
  
"Great." O'Connell said, sounding relieved. He helped Evie down from the ladder and walked with her to the staff room. There was a small refridgerator in the staff room, Evie opened it and let O'Connell dig for something to eat, once he found somethng they walked back to the library and Evie went back to shelving books. They were already to the 'I' section before Jonathan got back,  
  
"... Iassac... Im--"  
  
"Hello everyone!" Jonathan called.  
  
"Took you long enough." O'Connell muttered. Jonathan put down the bag of food on the table where Evie had the card catalog and a pile of books stacked up,  
  
"Jonathan, don't put that there!" she called, "Jonathan!"  
  
"Oh Evie I wont make a mess," Jonathan said, he continued unpacking the bag of sandwhiches onto the table, O'Connell came over to get some of the food,  
  
"Don't touch that one its mine." Jonathan said,  
  
"I'm not," O'Connell replied,  
  
"Excuse me," Evie said, neither of them looked up, "Excuse me boys," she repeated, this time Jonathan and O'Connell gave her their attention, "Will you two take those outside please."  
  
"Why?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"Yeah, come over and join us Evie," Jonathan said,  
  
"Ugh... there's no use arguing with you two is there?" Evie asked. She went back to restacking the books, the "Imprisonment... Imhotep--" Just before she could put the last book on the shelf she heard a sharp whisper in ancient Egyptian:  
  
"Death, is only the begining..." it said,  
  
"Did you hear that?" she asked,  
  
"Hear what?" Jonathan asked,  
  
"That voice... 'death is only the begining' you didn't hear that?" Evie said,  
  
"No, didn't hear a thing." Jonathan said,  
  
"Me either," O'Connell replied. Evie shrugged,  
  
"...Death is only the begining..." the voice said again, Evie slammed the pile of books on the shelf and looked down at Jonathan and O'Connell,  
  
"All right, which one of you is doing that?" she asked,  
  
"Doing what?" Jonathan asked,  
  
"That voice!" Evie said,  
  
"What voice?" Jonathan asked, getting annoyed by Evie's interruptions,  
  
"You're the only one who hears it Evelyn," O'Connell said,  
  
"Listen." Evie said, she picked up the book on Imhotep and flipped through the pages, O'Connell and Jonathan watched, but nothing happened,  
  
"And... what are we listening for?" O'Connell asked. Evie looked at the book with a confused expression, then closed the book, opened it and flipped through the pages, still nothing. She opened the book, flipped the pages, and closed it, still nothing. She repeated the same process several times with no result, O'Connell and Jonathan watched,  
  
"Evie, maybe you'd better take a break," Jonathan suggested, sounding concerned, "Come down and eat something."  
  
"No, I'm fine." Evie mumbled. She turned to put the book back on the shelf, just as she did she heard the voice for a third time,  
  
"Death is only the begining...." before she could react a strange feeling came over her as if she were being controlled, and she couldn't fight it off. Unable to control her movement, she froze and dropped the book she was holding, Jonathan and O'Connell looked up, they saw her standing on the ladder, staring blankly ahead almost in a trance,  
  
"Evelyn?..." O'Connell said,  
  
"Evie are you all right?" Jonathan asked. Evie didn't respond, "Evie... hello!" Jonathan said, he got up and waved his hand in front of her face, "Evie..." Jonathan said, tapping her on the shoulder,  
  
"Ahh! What was that for?" Evie asked, snapping out of the trance,  
  
"Are you all right?" Jonathan asked,  
  
"Yes, why?"  
  
"You dropped that book you were holding and just stared straight ahead, and we talked to you but you didn't hear us." Jonathan said, "Did you hit your head or something?"  
  
"No, no, I'm fine." Evie said, Jonathan and O'Connell didn't look convinced, "Really, I'm all right. Let's just go home," Evie said.  
  
"That sounds like a good idea." Jonathan said. He, O'Connell, and Evie walked out to the car, then Jonathan ran back inside to grab the rest of the sandwhiches.   
  
Jonathan drove everyone back to his and Evie's house on the outskirts of Cairo. He parked the car outside and opened the front door. He tossed his coat on a chair and headed for the kitchen,  
  
"O'Connell you can take over that couch or one of the chairs in there," Jonathan said, "Want something to drink?"  
  
"Sure, what do you have?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"Tea, coffee, wine, etc." Jonathan said,  
  
"I'll take coffee." O'Connell said,  
  
"Okay, coffee for you, tea for me, Evie don't bother saying anything I'm giving you strong coffee." Jonathan said. Evie rolled her eyes and sat on the couch with O'Connell,  
  
"You okay?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"Yes, but Jonathan obviously thinks I've lost my mind..." Evie said, "I honestly have no clue what the two of you were talking about, I don't remember any of what you said happening" she added "... I think I'll go to bed now, see you two in the morning."  
  
"Bye." O'Connell said. Jonathan came back with the drinks,  
  
"Where'd Evie get to?" he asked as he set the cups down,  
  
"She said she's going to bed." O'Connell replied,  
  
"Oh, well good, that's the most intelligent thing she's done all day." Jonathan said, he sat down in a chair across the room and drank his tea, "I think I'll go to bed too," Jonathan said, "Maybe this mess will be cleared up by morning. You can stay in that guest room at the end of the hall."  
  
"Okay." O'Connell said, he got up and went to the back room.  
  
While Jonathan and O'Connell were talking Evie had already fallen asleep. Around midnight she began having a strange dream. She saw herself in the dream, and the black book was there as well, it was sitting right in front of her and she was reaching out as if she might open it. As the dream continued she began hearing Imhotep's voice again, "Death is only the begining..." he said in Egyptian. "Aren't you going to open the book Evelyn?... Open the book...." Evie tried to fight off the voices, but the strange feeling of being controlled came over her again. She sat up and started walking toward the door of her room. She turned the door knob and opened the door, causing it to creak loudly. Evie left the room and began to stagger down the hall. In the back room O'Connell could hear the door creak open. He got up groggily to see what it was, when he opened the door he saw Evie stumbling through the living room toward the front door, but she didn't seem like herself,  
  
"Evelyn," he called. Evie didn't respond or even look up. O'Connell ran down the hall, he got to Evie just before she opened the door, "Evelyn," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her from opening the door. At the sound of his voice Evie spun around and screamed loudly,  
  
"AHHH!!"  
  
"Evie?" Jonathan called as he ran out of his room, "What happened Evie?"  
  
"I-I have no idea..." Evie said, she was just as surprised as Jonathan and O'Connell were,  
  
"You a sleep walker or something?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"No-- at least not until now." Evie said,  
  
"Are you all right?" Jonathan asked,  
  
"Yes." Evie said, "I had the strangest dream and, and I heard voices." Evie started to explain, "Then it all stopped and I was here by the door."  
  
"Okay, now this is getting weird..." O'Connell said,  
  
"Maybe you'd better go back to bed Evie," Jonathan suggested,  
  
"I suppose so," Evie said, "I'll see you two in the morning." Evie went back to her room, Jonathan looked at the clock,  
  
"Oh boy... well, I'm going back to bed, if anything happens think twice before you call me." Jonathan replied,  
  
"That goes for me too." O'Connell said. They both went back to their rooms and slept until morning when they were awakened at five by Evie's loud alarm clock,  
  
"EVIE!!!" Jonathan yelled,  
  
"Sorry, sorry." Evie said, she shut off the alarm and got ready to go to work at the library. Before she left she opened Jonathan's door to say good bye, "Jonathan, I'm leaving now," she said,  
  
"Okay..." Jonathan mumbled grogilly,  
  
"You're picking me up after work right?" Evie asked,  
  
"That depends, are you going to let me sleep?" Jonathan asked in annoyance,  
  
"Yes, sorry to disturb you Jonathan." Evie said. She closed the door and went down the hall to say good bye to O'Connell. Evie knocked softly on the door, "Bye O'Connell," She said. She heard a muffled 'Bye' from his room and left to walk down to the library.  
  
When Evie got to the library the new curator was already there inspecting the place, he had his back to her so she couldn't tell if he was pleased with it or not,  
  
"Excuse me," Evie said, the man turned around,  
  
"Ah, you must be the librarian." he said, "I'm the new curator, Mr. Johnson."  
  
"Yes, I'm Evelyn Carnahan." Evie said, "I'm sorry about the library, but there was a bit of an accident and I--"  
  
"The library is fine for now. I'll have Mohommed and Bob re-stack the books. What I want you to do is move those artifacts in the case out there to the main exhibit. And make up some tags to give some more information; what they are, where they came from, etc. Can yo do that?"  
  
"... Yes..." Evie said reluctantly, knowing that he was referring to the artifacts they had found in Hamunaptra.  
  
"Good, you can show me what you've done when you're through. I'll be in my office." Mr. Johnson said. Evie sighed and went out to the exhibit hall to gather up the artifacts. She picked up the keys to the cases off the desk and went out to the exhibit hall. She opened the case and picked up a few of the statues and brought them to the exhibit case in the main hall, then went back to get another armful of them, and laid them neatly in the cases in the main hall. In the last bunch of artifacts she brought in was the key that had opened the books and Imhotep's sarcofacus. As she went to put the key in the new case she heard the voices again,  
  
"...Death is only the begining..." it said,  
  
"Oh no, its happening again!" Evie thought, she tried to ignore the voices and go back to her work. She was just about to close the case when she the strange controlled feeling came over her again, she dropped the keys to the case, returning to the strange hypnotic state that Jonathan and O'Connell had already found her in twice. She reached into the case and pulled out the key from Hamunaptra, then left the museum through the back door, and went out into the desert.  
  
Back at the house in Cairo Jonathan and O'Connell were about to recieve another rude awakening. Outside the house Ardeth Bey and five other Med-jai were gathered,  
  
"This is it, wait out side." Ardeth said to them in Arabic. He beat on the door loudly, inside Jonathan could plainly hear the knocking,  
  
"I'm comming! I'm comming!" Jonathan muttered as he dragged himself out of bed and to the door, "What do you want-- Ardeth Bey?!" Jonathan asked in amazement, "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I must speak to you immedietly my friend." Ardeth said, he sounded very serious,  
  
"Oh, well, come in, come in. I'll just go get O'Connell." Jonathan said. He ran down the hall and knocked on O'Connell's door, "Um, O'Connell, there's a friend of ours to see us, I think you'd better get out here." Jonathan said. A few seconds later O'Connell opened the door,  
  
"Who's-- Uh, hi..." O'Connell said, when he saw Ardeth standing in the living room,  
  
"My friends, I am sorry to disturb you, but I am afraid that we have a very serious problem." Ardeth said,  
  
"I have a feeling I'll want to sit down for this." Jonathan said, he sat down on the couch in the living room, O'Connell and Ardeth also took a seat and waited for Ardeth to continue,  
  
"We have been watching Hamunaptra closely ever since you left, a few days ago the sand began to do something strange; it lifted and spread, forming the face of the creature in the sand, and a stairway also opened up leading deep into the city. A few of my men went down to see what was happening, the ones that went down the stairway never returned, but the others came back saying that the creature had spoken. They said that it whispered something to them in Egyptian, they could only make out a few words but we believe we have put it together, '... death, is only the begining...'--"  
  
"That's what Evie heard yesterday in the library! Remember O'Connell?" Jonathan exclaimed,  
  
"Yeah," O'Connell replied,  
  
"Then it is true..." Ardeth said,  
  
"What are you talking about?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"The creature; he is trying to contact a living person and lead them to Hamunaptra to awaken him,"  
  
"And he's chosen Evie?" Jonathan asked anxiously,  
  
"Yes, it seems that he has; Evelyn was his chosen sacrifice before, if we do not find her before he lures her to Hamunaptra then--"  
  
"He'll kill her and wake up his dead girl friend." O'Connell blurted out,  
  
"Yes." Ardeth said.  
  
"Oh boy..." Jonathan sighed,  
  
"Come on, we'd better get down to that museum." O'Connell said. He lead the way out to Jonathan's car, Ardeth and Jonathan followed. The med-jai didn't follow them to the museum, on Ardeth's command they rode back into the desert to keep watch on Hamunaptra and call on more of the med-jai if they were needed. Jonathan drove down to the museum, as soon as he parked the three of them got out of the car and barged into the museum. The cuartor came to the door as soon as they walked in,  
  
"The museum is closed today gentlemen," he said,  
  
"Is Evelyn Carnahan here?" O'Connell asked, ignoring the curator's comments,  
  
"She's in the main exhibit room, but you can't just--" the curator started, but O'Connell, Jonahtan, and Ardeth had already walked off into the museum.  
  
"Evie!"  
  
"Evelyn!"  
  
"Evie!" the three of them called, but they didn't get an answer. They continued into the main room where Evie was supposed to be working. They found the new cases open with the keys laying on the floor, and a few of the artifacts laid out in the case,  
  
"She's not here." Jonathan said, he picked up the keys and checked the case, "... and neither is the key."  
  
"Then we must hurry." Ardeth said, "come." The three of them left the museum through the open back door and ran around the front to the car. Jonathan started up the car and drove out of town, "We do not have much time, if she reaches the city before we do then it may be too late." Ardeth said,  
  
"Faster Jonathan." O'Connell said,  
  
"I'm going! I'm going!" Jonathan said,  
  
"Its not fast enough." O'Connell said, he stomped on Jonathan's foot, causing the car to jerk forward at full speed, Jonathan could barely drive without hitting anyone, he had to swerve out of the way several times and nearly crashed into two buildings and a camel,  
  
"Let me hit the brakes! Let me hit the brakes!" Jonathan begged, but O'Connell refused to let him until they were out of the city and into the desert, "You'd better just hope I don't run out of gas O'Connell!" Jonathan said,  
  
"Quit your whining and drive." O'Connell said.  
  
Jonathan, O'Connell, and Ardeth made it to Hamunaptra in half the time it took them to get there the first time, but that was still twelve hours, and they didn't know how far of a head start Evie had. Jonathan stopped the car outside the city and the three of them started toward the entrance,  
  
"There is the stairway." Ardeth said. They peered into the hole, the stairs seemed to disapear into the darkness,  
  
"Anybody got a torch?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"... I've got matches!" Jonathan said, pulling out a box of matches from his pocket, O'Connell gave him an annoyed look, Ardeth took out a torch,  
  
"I believe this will be useful." he said. O'Connell took the torch and one of Jonathan's matches, he used Ardeth's face to light the match, then lit the torch with it,  
  
"Come on." he said. The three of them started down the stairs into the city. The torch gave them barely enough light to see, but they eventually made it to the bottom of the stairs. They looked around the room they were standing in, it looked similar to many of the other rooms they had found in the city before. There was a small opening in the room that led into what looked to be a larger chamber. O'Connell started through the opening, on the floor inside the opening was a small gold chain with something attached to it, "What's this?" he asked, Jonathan came over to check it out, he took the object from O'Connell and looked at it,  
  
"That's Evie's locket!" Jonathan said, "she can't be far away," Jonathan put the necklace away in his pocket and followed O'Connell through the opening. On the other side of the opening there was a narrow ledge, only about three yards wide. About fifty yards away from where they were standing there was a long rickety rope bridge. Below the bridge there was a fifty foot drop to a bubbling pool below,  
  
"I don't remember this being here," Jonathan said,  
  
"It was not, when the city collapses it reveals this room, the bridge leads between the tombs and the land of the living." Ardeth explained,  
  
"...great..." Jonathan muttered,  
  
"Is that--" Ardeth started  
  
"Evelyn!" O'Connell called. Everyone looked off at the bridge, Evie was stumbling across it, getting dangerously near the edges. She was carrying something with her, it was the book of the dead, she had the book open and was reading from it out loud in Egyptian,  
  
"Evie!!" Jonathan yelled. He and O'Connell sprinted off toward the bridge, Ardeth followed behind them,  
  
"Be careful, go slowly." Ardeth warned when Jonathan and O'Connell reached the bridge. Jonathan started out across it first, trying not to make it sway too much,  
  
"Evie..." Jonathan said, "Evie, its me, Jonathan.... Evie put down the book..." Evie didn't seem to hear him, she just kept walking forward, "Evie be careful..." Jonathan said. Evie was walking right toward the edge, Jonathan hoped that she would turn back for the center of the bridge when she hit the rope railings, but she didnt. Evie walked straight into the ropes, her foot slipped between the railing and the bridge. Evie screamed and fell into the railing, dropping the book into the bubbling pool below. "Evie!" Jonathan yelled, he ran across the bridge to her, she was struggling so much that she was getting tangled up in the ropes and nearly flung herself off the bridge. Jonathan grabbed Evie by the arm and tried to pull her back onto the bridge, causing her to snap out of the trance, she screamed and tried to grab hold of the bridge,  
  
"O'Connell, get over here and help me!!" Jonathan called, he looked behind him, O'Connell was already running down the bridge toward them. He dove forward and grabbed Evie's other arm and they managed to pull her onto the bridge,   
  
"What's happening?" Evie asked, having no idea where they were. Ardeth ran across the bridge to where they were,  
  
"We must leave, NOW." Ardeth said when he reached them, but before Ardeth could say anything else Imhotep stepped out from a room on the other side of the bridge, "We are in serious trouble." O'Connell said. They all stared up at Imhotep, he was fully regenerated,  
  
"I-I thought he was supposed to be a mummy!!" Jonathan exclaimed,  
  
"No, he was fully regenerated when you killed him, he does not need t--" Ardeth stopped, Imhotep was saying something in Egyptian, "Can anyone translate?" Ardeth asked,  
  
"Um..." Evie started, "Give me the girl and I'll spare your lives."  
  
"We must leave, hurry!" Ardeth said, he pulled Jonathan up by the shirt collar and pushed him, "Go, NOW!" Jonathan started down the bridge, Evie jumped up and ran after him, followed by O'Connell, then Ardeth. Imhotep saw them trying to escape, he yelled something in Egyptian, and the bridge started to sway and shake.   
  
"Get off the bridge!!" O'Connell yelled as he grabbed the railing. Jonathan and Evie ran as fast as they could to the other side of the bridge, Ardeth and O'Connell also made a mad dash to the other side,  
  
"Come, we must hide!" Ardeth said, he led the way through the corridors to a secret passage inside one of the walls. He touched a spot on the wall and it opened, allowing everyone to crawl inside. The door closed just as Imhotep entered the room,  
  
"We cannot stay here," Ardeth said, he looked around the small passage they were hiding in, "If he finds Anack-su-namun it will be too late." Ardeth started leading the way through the passage. Evie was walking between Jonathan and O'Connell,  
  
" Too late? Too late for what? Would anyone mind telling me what's going on?" she asked. Evie had know idea what she had been doing or why she was in Hamunaptra, the only thing she did no was that she was there and Imhotep was following them.  
  
"You woke up our 'friend' again." O'Connell said,  
  
"Do you remember anything Evelyn?" Ardeth asked,  
  
"A little..." Evie said, "I was at the museum and the curator told me to move the artifacts we found at Hamunaptra from the small case to a new one in the main hall. I had put away all the artifacts and was just about to close the case when I heard the voice again, and then the next thing I knew I was here on the bridge." she explained,  
  
"And as usual you know exactly what's going on don't you?" Jonathan asked Ardeth in a slightly annoyed tone,  
  
"Yes." Ardeth said, "He is using Evelyn to awaken himself and Anack-su-namun,." Ardeth said, "I told you that already." he added  
  
" Yes, well.. how is he doing it?" Jonathan asked,  
  
"It is a curse." Ardeth said, "If we find the gold book we may be able to remove the curse and--"  
  
"And then we can kill him-- again." O'Connell said  
  
"Where do you find all this stuff?" Jonathan asked,  
  
"It is passed down over the centuries to the med-jai." Ardeth said,  
  
"Speaking of the med-jai, aren't they supposed to be helping us?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"Only if he leaves Hamunaptra, or things get out of hand, otherwise we could attract too much attention, and the creature will kill us all." Ardeth explained, "Come, this way," Ardeth said. He touched a spot on the wall, causing it to open. Ardeth peered outside to see if Imhotep was there, "It is safe." he said. Ardeth led the way outside, followed by O'Connell, then Evie, and last was Jonathan. Ardeth continued to lead the way down the passage, "O'Connell and Jonathan, do you remember what happened to the gold book?"  
  
"I do." Evie said remembering how Jonathan had lost the book before they got out of the city, "Jonathan dropped it in one of the pools."  
  
"Oh yes, I remember..." Jonathan said with a smile. Jonathan looked around the room, " I think I can find it... uh... its this way." Jonathan started walking in the other direction, everyone followed. They soon found themselves back in the room with the long stairway and two tables. The ceiling had dropped to only about seven feet high when the city collapsed, and all of the black pools had dried up. Jonathan walked over to where one of the pools should have been, he found the book laying at the bottom, "Found it!" Jonathan called, everyone walked over to join him, "Only we've got a bit of a problem..."  
  
"What now?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"We need the key." Jonathan said  
  
"Its back at the museum."Evie sighed,  
  
"No its not." Jonathan said,  
  
"Yes it is I put it in the case." Evie said,  
  
"I didn't see it," Jonathan said,  
  
"It had to be there, I remember putting it in the case and I was about to close it when--"  
  
"Evelyn, just check your pockets." O'Connell said, not wanting to waste time letting the two of them argue.  
  
"Honestly you two are both--blind..." Evie said. She was astonished to find the key in her pocket. Ardeth took the key,  
  
"We must hurry before--" Ardeth started, he stopped when he heard Imhotep's voice echoing through the hallway, "Open the book." he ordered. Jonathan took the key and unlocked the book,  
  
"Which inscription is it?" he asked,  
  
"I'll find it." Evie said, she ran over to help Jonathan find the inscription, "What's it supposed to say?"  
  
"Something about removing the curse that allows the dead to control the living." Ardeth said. Jonathan and Evie searched through the book, all the time they could hear Imhotep's voice getting louder,  
  
"What's he saying?" O'Connell asked,  
  
"Uhh..." Jonathan said, trying to translate so Evie could read, "You... you shall... you--"  
  
"You shall live again Anack-su-namun." Evie translated, knowing it would be faster if she just did it herself.  
  
"Thank you." Jonathan replied,  
  
"Hurry, you do not have much time." Ardeth said. They could hear Imhotep's voice getting louder, but they didn't bother having anyone translate; Evie and Jonathan needed all the time they could get.  
  
"I've got it!" Evie said,  
  
"Read, one of you, quickly." Ardeth said. Evie started to read the inscription, but before she could get past the first line Imhotep entered the room, carrying Anack-su-namun's mummy.  
  
"We're in trouble Evie..." Jonathan said. Evie tried to keep reading, but Imhotep was starting to take control of her again. Ardeth, O'Connell, and Jonathan were watching her, she stopped reading. "Evie, Evie, are you okay?" Jonathan asked,   
  
"I'm fine..." Evie mumbled as she snapped out of the curse again. Imhotep was stalking toward them, speaking in Egyptian,  
  
"Hurry, we must get out or he'll kill her." Ardeth said, "Take the book-- and don't lose it!" Imhotep saw them preparing to leave,  
  
"You will not escape that easily..." Imhotep said in Egyptian, but he couldn't do anything while he was trying to carry Anack-su-namun, allowing O'Connell, Jonathan, Ardeth, and Evie to get the book and race out of the room. Imhotep dropped Anack-su-namun on one of the tables and stalked after them. Jonathan was leading the way, carrying the gold book with him, Evie wasn't far behind, O'Connell and Ardeth were last,  
  
"Where are you going Jonathan?" Evie called,  
  
"I have no idea!" Jonathan yelled back, but he kept running, trying to get anywhere that was away from Imhotep. Everyone continued to follow Jonathan, and they soon found themselves in the room with the long rope bridge, Jonathan started runnnig across it, Evie, O'Connell, and Ardeth followed. They were almost across the bridge when Imhotep entered the room. Imhtotep yelled something in Egyptian that seemed to have some effect on Evie, she stopped running and just stood there like a statue, O'Connell pushed her forward,  
  
"Evelyn move!" he said, Evie shook off the trance and ran after Jonathan into the small room on the other side of the bridge. Once they were all inside Ardeth looked out the door to see if Imhotep was following,  
  
"He is comming." Ardeth said,  
  
"I think we're in trouble..." Jonathan said nervously,  
  
"You two stay here and read that book." O'Connell said, pointing to Jonathan and Evie, "You, follow me, we're gonna hold him off." He said to Ardeth. O'Connell and Ardeth left the room, they saw Imhtoep making his way across the bridge, O'Connell took out a pocket knife and started sawing through one of the ropes that held up the bridge. Meanwhile Evie and Jonathan were trying to read the inscription. Jonathan peered around the door to see how O'Connell and Ardeth were doing, they had nearly sawed their way through one of the ropes, Imhotep was struggling to hang onto the bridge. Jonathan turned his attention back to the book,  
  
"Come on Evie faster!" Jonathan said,  
  
"That isn't helping me Jonathan..." Evie said. She was nearing the end of the inscription, O'Connell and Ardeth still hadn't gotten through the first rope yet, and O'Connell's knife was getting dull.  
  
"You might want to hurry that up a bit Evelyn!" O'Connell yelled. Evie tried to finish the inscription as fast as she could. As she read over the last line she froze again and stopped talking. A bright light came from a book, it only lasted a few seconds then disapeared back into the book,and Evie returned to normal,  
  
"I hope that worked." she said,  
  
"Come on." Jonathan and Evie ran out of the room with the book,  
  
"Oh my god..." Evie said when she saw Imhotep on the bridge,  
  
"Don't just stand there, do something!" O'Connell yelled. Jonathan held the book open while Evie turned the heavy pages looking for the right inscription. It wasn't long before she found it,  
  
"Here it is!"  
  
"Hurry up and read it Evie." Jonathan said. Evie read over the words,  
  
"Kadeesh mal, Kadeesh mal, paredoos, paredoos!" Just as Evie finished the inscription O'Connell cut through the rope, Imhotep screamed as he tipped off the bridge and began turning back into a mummy. Imhotep fell into the bubbling pool under the bridge. Everyone watched as Imhotep began to sink, just before he fell under he uttered something in Egyptian, Evie started to translate it,  
  
"... Death, is on--" Jonathan covered Evie's mouth,  
  
"Stop Evie, we don't want to hear it." he said. Imhotep sank into the bottom of the pool and everything was silent, O'Connell snatched the book from Evie and threw it in the pool too,  
  
"That's the last time I want to see that book." he said. "You okay Evelyn?"  
  
"Yes, I'm fine." Evie answered,  
  
"Well good." Jonathan said, before O'Connell could say anything else. Jonathan, Evie, O'Connell, and Ardeth started walking out of Hamunaptra. As they walked through the corridor Ardeth looked at the three of them,  
  
"Now, I don't EVER want to see the three of you here again."  
  
The End 


End file.
